Cobblers pair Williams and Revell set to be fit for Blades showdown

Jeremy Casey

Luke Williams and Alex Revell are both in line to return to the Cobblers squad for Saturday’s big Sky Bet League One clash with champions-elect Sheffield United at Sixfields.

Williams is fit again after recovering from a hamstring strain, while Revell, who hasn’t played since injuring a calf muscle in January, will be available if he successfully negotiates another full week of training.

Luke Williams

Cobblers boss Justin Edinburgh is also hopeful John-Joe O’Toole will be available to take on Chris Wilder’s team, although he admits the midfielder’s groin injury is having to be carefully managed.

Loan signing Williams hasn’t featured since the 2-1 defeat at Bolton Wanderers on March 18, but Edinburgh said: “Luke will be fit for Saturday.

“We just felt the game at Rochdale came a little bit too quickly for him, and we wanted to make sure he gets another full week’s training under his belt.

“We also feel that Alex will come back into the squad on Saturday if this week’s training goes as the last week has.”

O’Toole, who missed the previous weekend’s draw with Oxford United due to the problem, was taken off midway through the second half of Saturday’s 1-1 stalemate at Rochdale.

“It is something that won’t clear up between now and the end of the season,” said Edinburgh when asked about the fitness of the former Bristol Rovers man.

“It is about us trying to manage it, and trying to keep John-Joe as fresh as we can for the games that are coming up.

“We don’t feel the injury will require surgery. It may do, but we are hopeful that it doesn’t, and it is just something we have to manage between now and the end of the season, and to try and get John-Joe to take part in as many games as possible.

“We felt that with a couple of weeks’ rest it would clear up, but it didn’t to the extent that we thought it would with that amount of rest.

“So it is a case of something that will be managed in the close season rather than getting fully better now.”

There were no othere fresh injury concerns from the weekend trip to Spotland.